MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/. Sunday’s elections across Russia showed the citizens’ support for the United Russia party’s candidates and also President Vladimir Putin’s human resource policy, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"In general, we may state there was support for candidates of the United Russia. We may also say there was an important credit for trust for those (candidates for governors) who had been proposed by the president. So, we see the support for the president’s human resource policy," he said, commenting on the preliminary outcome of the single voting day.
Peskov recalled that Putin backed several young candidates for governors "who had no electoral experience" but had worked in various ministries and agencies. "Meanwhile, people trust Putin and support his personnel decisions," he said. "The elections results are indicative of this."
There was "zero tolerance" to any violations at the elections and regional authorities showed a "flash-like reaction" to these facts, opening criminal cases and ordering dismissals, and this "cannot but arouse satisfaction," Peskov said. "The legitimacy of elections was ensured across the country at a rather high level," he stressed.
Peskov also said the Kremlin sees no problem with the voter turnout, noting that it is similar to the figures in Europe. "As for the turnout, in general we can hardly say it somehow significantly differed from the past years. This is the level of turnout that corresponds to general European tendencies," he said. In some regions, it was even higher than during the previous polls, "but the overall level in the country was the same."
The Kremlin spokesman welcomed the victory of candidates from different parties at the Moscow municipal elections, saying they will get a chance to prove their efficiency and work for the benefit of the city.
Most Muscovites cast their votes in favor of the United Russia candidates (76%), and the Russian social liberal party Yabloko party came second with 11.72% of the votes.
Elections of various levels were held in 82 out of Russia’s 85 regions on Sunday, except for St. Petersburg, Ingushetia and the Magadan region. Sixteen constituent regions elected their heads and six others chose lawmakers of legislatures, while additional elections to the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, were held in single-seat constituencies in Kingisepp and Bryansk. During 5,800 election campaigns at regional and municipal levels some 36,700 seats are to be filled. Besides, 230 referendums of local level were held. A total of 42 parties and six public associations took part in the polls.